Yesterday, I noticed that my HLP6163 started flickering a lot with colors totally off. I tried switching video inputs and I kept getting the same thing. So I turned it off, let it sit for about a half hour, and then turned it back on. I got sound but no video as the tv cycled through 3 times automatically of turning it off and on, and on each attempt I could hear the fan (or at least that’s what I think it is) struggle to turn on properly, until finally I got the dreaded 3 blinking lights. I turned it off again, only this time by pulling out the power cord as well. This morning, I plugged it back in, turned it on, and the tv cycled 3 times just like yesterday, but the faint fan noise was now a loud, distinct humm that pitched up and down. I have no idea what’s wrong. I suspect it to be the lamp, but I just got a new one put in on 8/17/07 (BP9600826A from samsungparts.com) and I’ve never heard of this loud humming noise before. From reading the posts, maybe I need to get a new fan or colorwheel as well?

Some people have been asking about the 90 warranty from the manufacturer when you buy from Discount-Merchant.com. Warranties and guarantees are to help you the consumer decide on what product is the best, and safest choice. If you’re going to drop a few hundred bucks, that product better have a warranty. Retailers know this, so they’ll do anything to make the sale, even warranty for up to 1 year or longer. I’ve talked with Ali from Discount-Merchant.com and he tells me that it’s highly unlikely that Philips lamps will go out within the first year, even the first two years. The failure rate is 3 in 10,000. That means that the lamp you get brand new should work.

And to speak to the point of longevity–well, your mileage may vary. Just like incandescent light bulbs you use for a lamp in your house, or even halogen lamps for the headlights of a truck, DLP and LCD lamps are consumable parts. The more you use them, the chances it will have to fail increases. Anyone who offers a free 1 year warranty is just trying to sell you the product, and most likely, they’re selling generic because it’s cheaper to replace. They also know that so many other things can go wrong with a television and they’ll most likely turn the customer down 11 months down the line, so once they have your money, there’s nothing you can really do. The reason we trust DM is that they’re customer service is excellent. They do stand by their product, and if there are any problems, you can give them a call and they are more than willing to help you troubleshoot. They’d rather help you fix your TV than sell you a lamp (and if fixing your TV involves selling you a lamp they’ll do that too

To end, here’s a quote from one of my favorite movies… Can anyone guess which movie this is?

Tommy: Chicken wings! Let’s think about this for a sec, Ted, why would somebody put a guarantee on a box? Hmmm, very interesting.
Ted Nelson: Go on, I’m listening.
Tommy: Here’s the way I see it, Ted. guy puts a fancy guarantee on a box ’cause he wants you to feel all warm and toasty inside.
Ted Nelson: Yeah, makes a man feel good.
Tommy: ‘Course it does. Why shouldn’t it? Ya figure you put that little box under your pillow at night, the Guarantee Fairy might come by and leave a quarter, am I right, Ted?
Ted Nelson: What’s your point?
Tommy: The point is, how do you know the fairy isn’t a crazy glue sniffer? “Building model airplanes” says the little fairy, well, we’re not buying it. He sneaks into your house once, that’s all it takes. The next thing you know, there’s money missing off the dresser and your daughter’s knocked up, I seen it a hundred times.
Ted Nelson: But why do they put a guarantee on the box?
Tommy: Because they know all they sold ya was a guaranteed piece of ****. That’s all it is, isn’t it? Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your customer’s sake, for your daughter’s sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from me.

My samsung HLS5688w has a slight flickering on screen and I have replaced the lamp, thinking that was the problem but it only worked for a couple of months and it started again. So now I’m wondering if its the color wheel. Any feedback is appreciated

I have a 20 month old Samsung HLR5668W that makes an intermittent grinding noise that goes away when I turn off/on the set after a few minutes.

A couple of  weeks ago, except for the left vertical 20% of the screen, the rest became very dark. For the next few days, I turned off/on every time it happened and the picture came back to normal. Then eventually the problem became permanent.  Thinking it was the lamp, I replaced it, but the problem still exists.

Does it sound like the color wheel is bad? The fan perhaps? Something much worse (crossing my fingers)? Please let me know. Thanx in advance.

Tom

Anywhere fron 30 minutes to a few hours later. It just turns off without warning. I called a local repair guy and he said to replace the bulb. Does this sound right? I have the HSL 6187. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I have a Samsung DLP 43″ HD rear projection TV.  The model number is HLN4365WX/XAC.  The bulb in the TV is failing an needs to be replaced.  The product number on it is 100 W Philips BP960024C.  I am confused with what bulb to use as a replacement.  Can you advise what bulb to use and if I can use the new samller bulb with the adapter??

Just received my replacement Philips lamps and DM adapter.
MANY questions!!
The new lamp is VENTED! Great idea - but HOW to orient the vents??
After much thought, I decided to mount the lamp with the vents horizontal. Several reasons: First - - it seems the fan blows side to side. In this orientation, the fan will be most effective to remove heat from the lamp.
Second: When the lamp fails, it seems to self destruct - forming great gobs of glass dust - and probably micro-pellets of mercury. Last thing I want is for that stuff to drip into the bottom of my TV set - - which is what will happen if the vents are vertically oriented.
Finally - - if the vents are vertical, then the heat from the lamp will vent out the top, against the plastic shell. Molten plastic doesn’t smell nice, so I’ll try to avoid that.
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Next Topic: The enclosure currently in my set was made by LTI (I replaced the Philips bulb after 3500 hours - it hadn’t failed yet - but I figured there’s happiness in preventive maintenance). My experience with LTI - - NOT FREAKIN GOOD!!! First bulb failed after 55 hours. They replaced it. Second bulb exploded after 2141 hours (about a year). They won’t fool me again. It’s Philips or eternal darkness.
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I used my new DM Philips bulb to replace the bulb in the LTI housing. It fits OK - in fact, maybe better than in the Philips housing?? !!! The LTI housing centers the bulb using small metal wedges - - seems to work fine - - HOWEVER - - please be aware!! The LTI housing is assembled with TORX screws!! You will need a TORX 10 to remove and reassemble the lamp housing. In addition, the Philips and the LTI lamps use different sized screws on the reflector connection!! DM does NOT include an electrode screw on their replacement lamp - - so you’ll have to figure something out. I used a #6-32 x 3/8″ machine screw, lock washer, and nut to secure the wire. All seems to work fine. In addition, the original Philips lamp had a heat reflector between the lamp and the center electrode (the LTI does not).
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I wore powder and latex-free polybutadiene-acrylonitrile exam gloves to reassemble the lamp in the carrier to prevent finger oils from being left on the reflector/glass housing. I think these are available at most pharmacy “box stores” - like Walgreens, etc.
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Finally - - when my original BP96-00224E Philips lamp finally does blow, it appears that the mounting fixture MAY block the new style lamp vents!!! (DM - - if you monitor this topic, PHOTOS of exactly how to mount your replacement lamp in the HLN617 carrier would be appreciated). I would like a step-by-step walk-through on how to replace the lamp in the original HLN style carrier. If I need to use my Dremmel Mototool to open up vents in the OEM lamp housing, DO let me know!!
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Finally - - and I certainly HOPE this won’t be a problem: I purchased TWO replacement lamps - just to have an extra on-hand. Of course, I didn’t consider until later that the warranty is based on purchase date. Not sure how to handle the unexpected eventuality of the second lamp failing shortly after it’s installation - say 3 years from now.
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Providing that I get reasonable life out of the DM product (no reason to suspect otherwise, as the lamp IS made by Philips), I have nothing but Kudos for the DM product. It works well (at least for the past 2 days), and providing you have the needed tools (typically just a philips screwdriver), and a bit more intelligence than your typical newt, you should be able to save about $100 over the cost of the OEM replacement. Also - - assuming that the vented lamp DOES turn out to be more durable than the OEM for the HLN sets, then we may even get a longevity bonus as well.
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Merlin

With Samsung perfecting their new LED DLP lamp technology, I’m curious if the’ve given some thought (if it’s even possible) to offer those of us who own their lamp based DLP’s a better (4x longer life) replacement light source. 

Bill 

I purchased a Samsung DLP HLR5678WX in April of ‘06. About a year later the TV failed to operate and the indicator lights on the front of the tv indicated that the lamp was bad. Luckily I had purchased the extended warranty and only had to wait 5 weeks for my new lamp to arrive, yes I said 5 weeks. I replaced the lamp and the the TV worked great for 2 weeks and then blinking lights on the front of the TV indicating, yet again, a bad lamp. Only waited 3 weeks this time for a new lamp, I complained a little about the first wait. Replaced the lamp for the third time and it worked great for a couple of more weeks and then indicator lights again! I then went in and took a look around and removed the bulb and re-inserted it and the TV worked! It continued to work for a couple of days, indicator lights again. Removed the lamp re-inserted the lamp tightened the screw, the set works. This worked for a couple of months but the last time I tried this it didn’t work. I then called Samsung and arranged for a certified tech to come and check out my set, after all you shouldn’t have to get out a screwdriver everytime you want to watch tv right? The tech showed up and said that he thought it was the ballast so he replaced the ballast and the tv worked great for 3 days but then the same problem.

 I am now begining to think that I have 2 spare bulbs and an extra ballast (yes I saved them) and that the problem lies somewhere else. Possibly the switch for the lamp cover?  All connectors on the back seem to be in place. Is there a way to test the switch to see if that’s the problem? Any other ideas? Thanks in advance.

I have a question and I don’t see a place to log it so I’m hopeful this is the correct area.  I have a Samsung HLR6768W which we had no problems with.  We moved to a new home but I had it professionally palleted for the move because I know they are delicate.  We got it home and put it on the new tv stand, let it set for a day or two before Directv was to come up and install the HDTV DVR, they cut it on, its fine, we watch the crappy little ‘how to use your directv’ film as if its rocket science, sweet picture and everything.  About 3 hours later (mind you the tv was on during this whole time) the directv guy finally leaves, I go upstairs to get something, come back down cut it on and now I have a crazy picture, distorted heads, I mean WHOA like take up the whole screen with just the head.  When commercials come on I get widescreen type images but instead of the black bars being at the top and bottom its on the sides.  I called for service because after checking that maybe somehow we had it stuck on an unknown zoom function or something we thought we’d better have service come out.  I’ve been trying to search online to see if there has been anyone with a similar problem or any suggestions.  The closest I could find is someone indicating something slightly similar when they were moving and that it turned out to be the video card had been knocked loose and it was having problems synchronizing.  Any thoughts, luckily I’m still 16 days within warranty but still I would like to have any thoughts you may have.